Saturday, July 2, 2016

Unrelated Amendments & Riders – Tricks of the Political Trade

H.R.2578 is a good example
of legislative and political manipulation designed to confuse the public and
hide important issue votes -- the practice of adding unrelated amendments,
indirectly related and riders to bills under consideration. It is a ploy
designed to deceive the public, sneak through legislation and make it difficult
to hold legislators accountable. You can see here on the 4US.com website, the
important significance of some of the amendments to this bill that were
considered and voted on are not revealed and you cannot tell how your
Members voted. Unrelated amendments are a significant contributor to
Congressional gridlock and broken government and should be eliminated.

The primary purpose of this
bill was to provide appropriations to the Department of Commerce, the
Department of Justice (DOJ), science agencies, and several related agencies.
Yet four, highly controversial amendments relating to gun regulations were
offered and defeated in separate and very close votes.